Guy Botterill and Henry Köhne are the 2026 South African Rally-Raid Championship champions. In the Northam Zondereinde Bushveld 400, the fifth and final round of the season, they finished second behind team-mates Saood Variawa and Charan Moore. Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa thus ended the season with a victory in every round for the Toyota Hilux IMT EVO.
Variawa ends season with victory
Variawa and Moore won in the Thabazimbi area by 1min 42sec over Botterill and Köhne. It was their second win of the season, following their victory in the opening round. The pair suffered several setbacks this year that put them out of the title fight, but ended the season on a strong note. Daniel Schröder and Juan Möhr completed the podium in their VW Amarok. Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer (Ford NWM Evo Plus) were fastest on the final stage, but had to settle for fifth place.
It is Botterill’s first SARRC title. He won the second, third and fourth rounds and finished on the podium in all five events.
Class victories
In the SA Ultimate T1+, class leaders Johan and Sean van Staden (Red-Lined Revo T1+) took victory, finishing seventh overall. Their closest championship rivals, Philip Botha and Andries Mynhardt, failed to reach the finish. Peet Victor and Vanzyl Jonck (Red-Lined VK50) won the Adventurer class ahead of Nielen Marx and Rikus Hattingh. In the SSV class, Eric de Wet and Emil Euler (Can-Am Maverick R) came out on top.
Henk Klaassen wins Challenger class
Of the Dutch competitors, Henk Klaassen was the most successful. With Gerhardt Schutte as his navigator, he won the Challenger class in the Taurus T3 Max of DaklaPack Rallysport and finished twelfth overall. Dave and Tessa Klaassen reached the finish in fifteenth place after receiving a heavy time penalty on the second stage. For Puck Klaassen and Danie Stassen (Toyota DKR Hilux T1+ EVO) and Pim Klaassen and Sasha Siripanyavuthi (Red-Lined T1+ GTR), the race ended on the first stage. Pim and Sasha later returned, but were not classified.
Bad luck for Dutch Quattro Legends
The four Audi Quattros of the Dutch Quattro Legends were among the eye-catchers of the rally all weekend. From a sporting point of view, things did not go smoothly. Peter van den Bosch was the first of the four Quattros, ahead of Marcel van Vliet and Erik van Loon. Van Loon and Hein Verschuuren suffered a broken gearbox on Friday, which meant they could not drive the first stage. They were back on Saturday and Van Loon was the fastest of the Audis on the final stage. “What a beautiful country, lovely people and a cool rally,” he said. “The Audi is just a very nice car and we also showed that it has plenty of speed.”
